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Saturday, August 16, 2014

Educational Report: Week of August 10, 2014

While I haven't posted a report since June, we've been working. :) We did take last week off & enjoyed a great time with my family from Michigan. That made getting back into the groove a bit tough this week, even though I planned for a lighter schedule. I knew we needed things lighter because Patricia's biethday was Wednesday & I shot pictures during the day for a friend on Thursday and Friday. I'm thankful for what we got done & I'm hoping next week goes smoother.

Reading Aloud: we only did it once this week. We're currently reading The Father Brown Reader II. So far, we all agree the first reader was better. I did read aloud to the little girls on Thursday & Friday- just our own picture books but it was a nice way to settle every one down before naps following the busyness of picture taking.

Memory Time: we skipped it this week & used that early morning time to focus on cleaning & organizing the house. It was pretty messy after a week full of fun. Not a bad trade off! :)

History: Benjamin joined Patricia in beginning to study American Culture from King's Meadow. (Since my last report, Patricia finished up the Christendom. YAHOO!) This course is so much more than history- it's a humanities course that covers history, culture, literature, worldviews & the arts. It's really, really good but it demands a lot of time & effort. But it's worth the effort! This week's lectures covered introduction & old world order- basically a review of history up till the period we will be studying. They both began reading The Last Crusader: the Untold Story of Christopher Columbus, as well as a supplemental book of their own choosing.

Younger children didn't do history. GASP!

Science: Patricia & Benjamin began module 6, which covers the foundations of geology. I'm struggling with getting supplies for this module. We might just skip several of the experiments, which will make them sad but I just want to move on. Younger children studied mosses & ferns.

Math: Jonathan & Elizabeth did it every day; everyone else only did one day of lessons but they did do drill sheets every day.

Language Arts: Everyone worked on copywork & spelling. The older children did vocabulary & typing. Jonathan & Elizabeth finished up PAL since I last posted, so I need to order the Bible Heroes from IEW for their writing. I could do it without the prompts but I find I'm more consistent when I use IEW resources. Plus, the children love them! Benjamin & Patricia worked on Writing With Skill: week 5 covering for Benjamin & week 27 covering for Patricia.

Latin: Benjamin & Matthias started chapter 21, which covers the imperfect tense of sum. We'll need next week to finish up. Patricia finished chapter 12, which covered genitive case. I'm still working with the boys- it's been great learning it with them. Patricia does 99.9% on her own. :)

Logic: Patricia & Benjamin didn't get an opportunity to meet with Eric this week but they did study the following fallacies on their own: Is-Ought Fallacy, Fallacy of Composition & Fallacy of Division. We'll let Eric play catch-up next week so the childrne will enjoy having a lighter load. They LOVE meeting with him & discussing these things together. The older three children continue to work on MindBenders & Critical Thinking pages when they want. :)

Art & Music: Lots of artwork for Patricia's birthday celebration. :) We went to piano lessons on Wednesday. Our teacher has started to incorporate rhythm exercises into our lessons- boy, do we need it!!!Faith: No new lessons for the boys.